This is a discussion on I Need Some Help Guys within the General Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Accidents. forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; I've been having a problem for months now and theres a story to go along with this. Anyone who can ...

I Need Some Help Guys

I've been having a problem for months now and theres a story to go along with this. Anyone who can help me figure out what my problem is Thank you in advance.

I own a 2004 Impreza WRX. It just reached 60,000 miles. I have no engine modifications. I bought the car when it had 42,000 miles on it last october. At some point last winter I felt like my car was losing power. In first gear it started doing some kind of stutter, where the power drops off and restarts. I couldn't take it in to get checked for a few months because of money issues. I just tried to learn to drive with the problem.

Just last month, I was driving and my buddy noticed my turbo gauge was dead, not moving at all. I popped my hood to see what the deal was, and one of my hoses, (No I dont know the name of it) had broken clean off. It was the one that went to my boost gauge. I'm sorry I don't know the name of it I'm still learning.

I took it to the mechanics where they replaced my hose. I get my keys back start my car and to my surprise the Stutter in first gear had vanished! My car ran like the day I bought it last October! It felt amazing! It felt like a WRX again! My power was back and I was blazing around town feeling like the coolest kid.

Five days after I took it to the mechanics, I parked my car to go somewhere with my buddies. It sat there for about six hours and I got back in. And guess what! The stutter was back. My power was gone.

I did a lot of online researching, all my buddies said they thought it was a fuel issue. The mechanic said the same thing. I cleaned my injecters. I then replaced my fuel filter. And yesterday I replaced my fuel pump with a high performance Walbro fuel pump! NOTHING! The stutter in first gear remains! I just checked to see if the e-clips on my wastegate cylinder arm had broken off, and that wasn't it.

Guys please help me. I want my car to run like a WRX again. Do you have any ideas what else I could look into here? There is a stutter in first gear once I let go of the clutch pedal. My RPMs build to about 2000 and then as soon as I let the clutch go to get moving, something causes my rpms to drop down to 1000 and slowly pick back up causing my car to run very sluggish in the lower gears. All the different factors make this a confusing situation.I don't see how replacing my hose caused my car to run amazing for five days and then it goes back to this problem..What is going on here?? Please help

Are you boosting at all? I'm inclined to think from the information you have provided that you have a boost leak...I would go over the entire system and make sure all vacuum lines/hoses are connected and not damaged...Also tighten and secure any clamps in the intake tract to the throttle body from the intercooler and the two clamps that are on the compressor outlet from the turbo to the intercooler...Is the CEL illuminated? Has this car had a hard life?

Thank you for the reply. Yes I am boosting once I'm past 3000 Rpms in first gear and second. Beyond second gear my car runs amazing. The cel is not on, and no this car has had a pretty peaceful life actually. No racing and I'm a careful driver. I checked the hoses today and clamps. Everything seems connected. My friend suggested it could be my up pipe causing this? He said if I swapped mine out for a Catless up pipe it could solve the drop off of power or lag in first gear?? Anyone else have any ideas or direction for me?

I want to also note that once I get above second gear my car rips power! It is amazing and so fast, but first and second gear are lagging power, and this stutter thing that goes on in first gear sucks. I have absolutley no launch power. My girlfriend's '98 Saturn has more power than my Subbie off the line right now because of that dump it does ......Anything guys?

Thank you for the reply. Yes I am boosting once I'm past 3000 Rpms in first gear and second. Beyond second gear my car runs amazing. The cel is not on, and no this car has had a pretty peaceful life actually. No racing and I'm a careful driver. I checked the hoses today and clamps. Everything seems connected. My friend suggested it could be my up pipe causing this? He said if I swapped mine out for a Catless up pipe it could solve the drop off of power or lag in first gear?? Anyone else have any ideas or direction for me?

I want to also note that once I get above second gear my car rips power! It is amazing and so fast, but first and second gear are lagging power, and this stutter thing that goes on in first gear sucks. I have absolutley no launch power. My girlfriend's '98 Saturn has more power than my Subbie off the line right now because of that dump it does ......Anything guys?

OBD is On Board Diagnostics II is the second generation of it...everything from 96 up is OBD II everything before from I believe around 82-95 is OBD..anyways there should be a little port under / to the left of the steering column ( its a 16 pin plug) You can insert a scan tool in there and read everything from real time data to pulling codes out of the ECU, BIU, TCM , ABS/HCU etc etc etc...Of course it all depends on the year of the vehicle and the scan tool also...Anyways I guess what tarmacsti is talking about is viewing live data as the ECU sees it when your "problem" occurs fore you did mention the CEL was off... I was just reading your post a little bit closer also, swapping out the stock catted up-pipe is a good idea also as I'm not sure if you heard of the problems with those? ( cat. conv.breaking apart and getting sucked up into the turbo requiring a replacement turbo to properly repair..)

Apart from inspecting all plumbing, the next thing I'd consider doing is to clean the MAF sensor. It's located right next to the air box on the plastic intake tube. Get a can of MAF sensor cleaner at a local auto parts store and give it a nice shower.

So I'm going to take my car in for a total tune up this week. I took it into our family mechanic yesterday. I had the guy drive my car and he said I definently had a problem on my hands. He said he heard a leak but couldn't find what the deal was so he didn't charge me anything. So I'm going to try just taking it in for a tune. I cleaned my MAF sensor and the problem didn't go away but thank you for the suggestion!

Another mechanic who drove my car said he thinks it is a timing issue. He said that since I still get power in the upper gears but I have this stutter in first gear, that one of my grounded lines could be wearing out or something. Has anyone ever had that happen?? I'm going to mention it when I take it in for the tune and pray to God that this problem I've dumped 1G on already finally is solved....

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